A bonsai can never be a finished work of art…because it will always be a
living piece of nature, continuing to live and grow. ~ John Naka, master bonsai cultivator

I like to think each one of us is our own bonsai, grown and pruned with patience and care, shaped by our environment. My beautiful geisha look was carefully developed and grown, starting with this sexy kimono from Iki Akiri, which comes in fitted mesh only. I am still trying to love fitted mesh with mixed feelings. It means I have to use the fitted mesh viewer, which doesn’t always love my computer (performance varies depending on the time of day for whatever reason) and because I still have to tweak my shape somewhat. For this kimono, my butt and hips still had to be tweaked. *sigh* The textures are lovely, especially with a cascade of roses flowing over the skirt and it’s so much fun to wear a kimono in SL that is not made up of 100 different prims.

The Arcade, the bastion of legalized gambling in SL, will be opening on June 1. Take your chances at a number of amazing things including the great prizes I show here! First off, this amazing ‘do from Truth Hawks that includes *squee* sushi as decoration. I went for the traditional cherry blossoms but I know I will be wearing this with the sushi décor in the future. Then Umazuma Metaluna amazed me with a set of gorgeous evocative skins with smokey eyes and gorgeous full lips.

And of course, the bonsai in question are from Arduenn Schwartzman for MadPea and come in 14 variations, but this is the kicker: when you pair the right ones up, they play a piece of music for you upon click. (Yes, thank you, not over and over until you go bonkers). The two tall ones are rares and are a pair and I clicked and listened to a cut from a ponderous symphony. I also noticed they have subtle sparkles that glimmer ever-so-subtly. Buy one, buy ‘em all!

Leave room for the birds to fly through. ~ John Naka

Hair: TRUTH HAIR Sakura Hair with TRUTH HAIR Flowers by Truth Hawks for >TRUTH<, available at The Arcade *

Skin: [theSkinnery] Chloe 3 (honey) DB CL1 by Umazuma Metaluna for the Skinnery, available at The Arcade *

“The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.”

~ Ralph Nichols

I think my next goal is to develop my listening better, to really hear what people say when they talk. I think with all the input and stimulus we get nowadays, it’s become increasingly hard for people to listen and I am among those. So chalk this up as my promise today: I am going to work on listening.

Poulet Koenkamp recently came out with this lovely mesh dress with wrap-around bodice. The brilliant part is her fatpack comes with a texture change HUD that allows you to wear several variations of the dress. Poulet, who was once known for her amazing clothing, flexis and sculpties, has been a little behind the ball producing things in mesh, mostly because she has been tossing a ball with a new little one at home. (And seriously, mesh vs. baby—baby is *always* gonna win.) Her textures are glorious and her personal style elegant, so when Poulet does come out with something, it’s always a cut above. The HUD for this outfit is simple to use.

Abraxxa Anatine has been using mesh too with great results. This jewelry set comes with a texture change menu, allowing several different variations on the stones. She has been transferring her exquisite jewelry making style to mesh with such creations, breaking out of the constraints of prims and sculpties. This necklace can be worn with both pieces—the choker and the dangling necklace—or each piece separately.

The whole “listening” trope came up because of these new mesh ears from Hasuko Kuramoto, who has made other bodily appendages (*cough*) with great success in the past. My pretty ears come with a handy HUD that allows for skin matching and adjustment. This is the clever part: If I arrange one ear in place in a manner I like simply by increasing the size with the HUD and then rotating it into place, I can tell the HUD to sync the other ear in a mirror image. So if I want both ears upside down and tipped out, I can rotate one into place, click, and they will look symmetrical. The other awesome part is these ears DO accept appliers and tattoos.

My skin is one of the gorgeous skins Shyla Boucher has made for the Arcade. With a number of skin tones and makeups, Shyla is offering a gorgeous assortment of skins that will allow you to match to many different looks. And with skins rarely being no copy/transfer, the chance to get them at the Arcade is a boon for friends and alts and newbies, if you have extras and are feeling generous. My darling side swept ‘do is Mina Nakamur’a’s piece for My Attic, a sassy and sleek look with Mina’s great texture-change HUD.

“Being heard
is so close to being loved
that for the average person,
they are almost indistinguishable.”

Like this:

A poem by Michael S. Harper, titled “Nightmare Begins Responsibility,” is one I have treasured for the poet’s raw emotion at losing two children. He lays open his grief, his feeling of powerlessness, his desperation. The title reminds us we have to come to grips in the midst of horror, accept the responsibility of our own position in such circumstances. How does one move forward when a wonderful child has been lost and how do we deal with that grief?

I received very sad news Saturday. My wonderful aunt lost her beloved nephew in the shooting in Santa Barbara. He was a very loved young man, the only child of two great parents who made considerable sacrifices for his well-being and upbringing, sending a good citizen on his start into this world. His family is *truly* devastated, as his father said on TV. Christopher’s mother is taking it very hard as is his grandmother and his cousin, my uncle has told me.

It pains me horribly to see how grief-stricken my own cousin appears in photos that are all over the internet and TV (he is the dark blond with his arm around a woman on the side of the photos). Christopher was as close to a little brother as he could have. When I see Christopher’s photo, I see my aunt’s eyes, the genetic legacy he carries from her family. I see his mother’s dark-haired beauty.

I have been thinking a lot about this for the past few days, of course. I have only one son who is dearer to me than anything else in this world. He is my gift, my fortune, my reason. Christopher’s parents felt the same way about their son, so I can only anguish for his mother. In my grief for Caryn and Richard, I have decided to write something to support their family.

I have pored over the articles trying to understand the motives of the young man, Elliot Rodger, and his means of carrying out the deaths he perpetrated. It was clear he was hell bent on killing himself and taking others with him. It was clear that several people knew he was expressing certain delusional and dark ideas and tried to act but were restrained by the law as much as the law did not restrain this young man from owning a weapon made for killing.

Christopher Michaels-Martinez’s father blamed the NRA and the “craven” politicians who allowed his son to die. I agree wholeheartedly. No needs to own a semi-automatic weapon. The only reason to have one is the intent to take someone else’s life. Period. Many of the guns the NRA supports the right to own are expressly made to kill other humans—not animals—efficiently and devastatingly. And the proliferation of these weapons, the easy access to them, is supported because the development and sale of these weapons make lots of people lots of money. That’s the bottom line.

These weapons are not being made to create a “well regulated” militia, and the argument that people need to arm themselves them against a government that overtakes them is laughable. Believe me, when the government takes over, they will have means much more insidious and devastating than a mere gun. Your assault rifle is not going to stop them from making laws to gerrymander voting districts, keep records of your electronic communications, or torture in the name of security.

A law regulating the guns that Elliot Rodger purchased would not have prevented the deaths of the people he killed with a knife. However, it would have curtailed his rampage greatly. Elliot Rodger killed Christopher quickly and efficiently with little effort with a semi-automatic weapon that required little effort to use. It was designed to kill. And it is documented in his writings that once he purchased his first gun, he felt emboldened. Perhaps if he hadn’t gotten the gun, he would not have acted at all.

The Rodger family was in a very difficult position with their son. He was clearly mentally ill and mental illnesses such as his often develop or are exacerbated at precisely this time in life—when the brain is in its final physical development and when a person is set suddenly free to make his own choices, sink or swim, and the pressures of making those choices exacerbates the anxieties, fears, angers that he has fostered in his delusions.

The law prevented his parents and therapists from doing anything to stop him. It regulated them. They could not insist he was evaluated in a mental institution. They could only beg police officers to look in on him, police officers who were also rendered helpless by the law. Their right to stop Elliot was taken away while his right to kill was freely given to him.

A federal ban on semi-automatic weapons makes complete sense. A vote was up in the Senate after Sandy Hook and received 55 affirmative votes. If the Senate wasn’t rigged to require a super majority, it would have passed. If the ban on such weapons was made law, a young man with homicidal and delusional intent would not be able to walk into a gun store and buy a gun as easily as if he were presenting an ID to get a drink.

It would have saved the life of a young man like Christopher Michaels-Martinez, who through no fault of his own, no culpability whatsoever, was shot dead, a shot that was felt brutally by his family and loved ones and his community.

With nightmare begins responsibility. When are you, Legislators, going to put your foot down and stop pandering to the NRA? When are we going to step up and protect our children and ourselves? Not one more.

A piece of a hot poem for a hot look. (Oh gosh I love this poem from Kevin Young.) I went over to the Dark Style and picked up some sexy items including this lingerie from Tatyana Ultsch, who includes appliers for top and bottom, though I only used the top on my mesh boobs from Riann Maltese. (I think my bottom is fine enough as is.) Sexy shoes from Promagic complete the look over Slink feet.

My skin is one of Shyla Diggs’ lovely makeup looks on Tricky Boucher’s base. Love the details of the body, especially that lovely butt and the hip bones. My hair is Mirja Mills’ beguiling retro style for My Attic.

If I am looking a bit more voluptuous, I am in this outfit. I think to balance a big top, a woman needs the bod to hold it all, including a bigger waist and bigger hips. This look is luscious and sexy and absolutely smokin’ without being exaggerated or cartoonish. (Hint: a little fullness to the belly and butt adds to the plush.)

I am not covering my ears here because I want you to tell me something good. I will tell YOU something good. LacunaInc have put out these absolutely drop dead sexy separates at My Attic this month, and wow. I love how LacunaInc uses bold graphics to get her point across, combining them with great easy silhouettes. She cleverly sells these separately, so if you want to mix and match with other pieces or change up the colors, you can.

My shoes are also something good I can tell you about though considering how late I am blogging this, you might get mad at me. They are one of the two pairs Eku Zhong is featuring for the 21 Shoe this month. (I really hate this one-day-only sale thing but what are you gonna do? Call it 21 and 22 Shoe? Hm….) You have to drop what you are doing RIGHT NOW and run to her store to get the shoes if it’s still the 21st. They are sexy, fashionable and gorgeous.

My hair is Kattington’s newest for Kustom 9, a great poofy rockabilly-inspired updo with shaved sides. I chose to wear a hairbase from Maddox DuPont and eyeliner from Shyla Diggs to lend a little more edginess to the look. Big bold earrings with texture change from Ryca Doobie (the biggest in big earrings in SL) and of course, Aida Ewing’s bright red lips on her skin for Collabor88. Hope I told you something good. Now you tell ME something good!

Got no time is what you’re known to say
I’ll make you wish there were 48 hours to each day
Problem is you ain’t been loved like you should
What I got to give will sure ’nuff do you good

Hair: *Milk* Hair~Jupiter by Kattington for Milk, available at Kustom 9

To me the outdoors is what you must pass through in order to get from your apartment into a taxicab.” ~ Fran Lebowitz

Summer is coming. I know it is! I am ready! Tobias Convair and Tya Fallingbridge have a few outdoor accessories that I have put to good use on my parcel. First Tya has this wonderful hammock at the Liaison Collaborative that comes in two wood tones with color change pillows and single and couples poses plus some adult for romantic encounters. I set it on the front porch of my house so I could lounge by the water, reading the New Yorker on my iPad and getting some fresh air.

Tobias has made a darling cabana house in “Crayola colors,” which goes well with his Pinewood Cottage. I can imagine all the colors lined up on a beach. (Would be great accompanied by cabana boys, hm?) Tya has made these fabulous lounge chairs in four different iterations and mirrored so you can set them up as you please. They include great single poses too. These are also available at the Liaison Collaborative.

Even in the great outdoors, I need to dress up, even if my heels sink in the lawn. Mistahmoose is a new guy on the fashion scene in SL, a game/graphics designer who has decided to ply his trade in world. These shoes are an example of his work. Designed for the Slink mid foot, they include a great texture-change HUD. (And the textures are a sort of suede, which shows brilliantly in the colors.) With a sexy shape and a new look, these shoes are some of the first pieces Mistahmoose has released. I look forward to more!

Movin’ on up, I wear a great artistic dress from Bamshyl Bookmite, one of her offerings for Fashionart. She has made a series of this mesh dress with solid colors and artistic/abstract patterns like this one, perfect for fashion and art. My jewelry I found while shopping from a recommendation in Skin Addiction. Velvetskin makes this necklace and bracelet with a HUD that has several texture change options for the different pieces and also offers the necklace in pieces (so you can wear, say, just the hanging stone on the chain). The set comes with the necklace, bracelets and earrings. I chose to wear a cute little cuff from Jaycee Dover that I picked up at Kustom 9 on my other wrist. Brightly colored nail polish from Di Hoorenbeek brightens my look.

I love these low ponytails from Kimberlee Miles. With three different hair color sets to choose from, I chose the middle set which carries mostly gingers and reds and browns. I love this bright ginger as it matches the playful nature of the style. My skin is one of Inka Mexicola’s lovely pieces for the Dressing Room Fusion with peachy lips and beautifully shaped eyes and brows.

Marry an outdoors woman. Then if you throw her out into the yard on a cold night, she can still survive. ~ W. C. Fields

Manic moves and drowsy dreams
Or living in the middle
Between the two extremes.

Once in a while I have a guest blogger. I have had Asima Saad on the blog before and she wanted to cook up another look and blog entry, which I gladly accepted. Asima does a lot of RP and loves writing and dressing up. Hope you enjoy her look and story as much as I did.

Leah glanced upward at the clock on the wall and cracked her gum.

The rink was empty, and even the weirdos had called it a night. She shut off the lights to the popcorn machines, and soda fountains, then ran her fingertips along the long red countertop. Some guy had scraped into the red pressboard ‘SLAYER’ with something sharp and her nails glided easily across the deep grooves.

She wiggled her toes in one of the neon high-top sneaker as the music from the sound system wound its way through the vacant rink. She closed her eyes.

“Manic moves and drowsy dreams
Or living in the middle
Between the two extremes”

Synthesizers and drums created a sonic surf that she could swim in. And she lost herself in the rolling tides of the epic tune.

“You’re out of touch
I’m out of time (time)
But I’m out of my head
When you’re not around”

When the sound started to fade, headlights cut their way through the glass of the doorway, and she dropped down, snagging a cluster of keys on her dash to catch her ride home.

You’re out of touch
I’m out of time (time)
But I’m out of my head
When you’re not around.